I went with some other 11th graders on a trip to Cambodia where we built the foundation of a school, well and contributed to other projects. The majority of the trip was in Pursat, where we did our volunteer work, however we spent our last two days in Siem Reap. In Siem Reap we went to Angkor Wat and some other temples. The photo below is taken at one of the temples that we went to. This is a forced perspective photo which gives the audience the impression that I am kissing a Buddha. The Buddha is far away in the background, however with the angle of the camera, we look relatively close.  This photo looks somewhat realistic, apart from the fact that the Buddha is more in focus than I am.

One of the ways of knowing is through reasoning. Within reasoning, there are rationalists and empiricists. Rationalists believe that the reliable way to gain knowledge is through thought and methodology. An example of a ‘rationalist’ subject in school is math. Empiricists, on the other hand, believe that the only way to gain valid knowledge is “through experimentation and observation.” An example of a ‘empiricist’ subject in school is science.

In class it was interesting learning about rational thought, logic and stating arguments. Rational thought uses statements called propositions, which lead to assumptions. The proposition must be a statement with a claim, must be either true or false (that can theoretically be proven) and must make sense. However, a proposition cannot be a definition, such as “a triangle is defined as a polygon with three sides.” It was interesting to learn about propositions and how it is structured to make an argument. An argument can be valid without being true. An argument that is not true, but follows the rules of an argument (using a statement and reaching a conclusion) is called a sound argument. An invalid argument is when the structure of the argument is incorrect. An example of a sound argument is: All flamingos can sing. Lingo is a flamingo. Therefore Lingo can sing. As you can see, the premises are not accurate (not all flamingos can sing), but it is a valid argument as it follows the rules.

Logic is another “element of rational thought” that we learned about, which uses propositions to make conclusions. There are two types of logic: deductive logic and inductive logic. Deductive logic is when an argument made of propositions is followed through to come to a conclusion. However, there are many factors that may impact the conclusion and may cause it to be false. Inductive logic uses a proposition and data that causes a person to assume a conclusion. This can also have flaws.

1. Refer to Plutchik’s model of emotion as needed and list as many emotions as you can that you have personally experienced.

Serenity, Ecstasy, Love, Acceptance, Trust, Admiration, Submission, Apprehension, Fear, Distraction, Surprise, Amazement, Awe, Disapproval, Pensiveness, Sadness, Remorse, Boredom, Disgust,  Annoyance, Anger, Aggressiveness, Interest, Anticipation, Optimism

2. Describe one experience of strong emotion you can remember from your childhood. How did it affect you?

When I was small, I had a strong sense of admiration for my brother. I thought that everything he did was awesome and I always copied what he did and wanted to do what he was doing. He liked to play soccer and he would sometimes go outside to play soccer. I was not allowed to go outside without an adult (I was 2 years old), so I would press my face up against the window, watch him kick around a soccer ball and wait for him to come back inside. Then when I was 4 or 5, I actually tried to play soccer and I realized that I didn’t like it very much. This helped me understand at a young age that people like different things and allowed me to reverse the situation (that people didn’t always like what I liked).

3. How emotional are you?

The Emotional Intelligence Quiz (made up of ten questions) communicated my Emotional IQ as score of 39 (out of 100). However, I don’t think that these results are accurate, as there were only 10 questions and I think some of the questions don’t reveal the level of emotionality of a person. I don’t see myself as “cold” and “detached”, which was stated in the feedback of my results. Personally, I view myself as an emotional person and I responded emotionally to the feedback of the quiz.

How intensely do you feel emotion (on a scale of 1-10, then describe)? Do you cry or laugh easily?

I laugh easily. I find many little things funny and when I laugh, it is often hard for me to stop laughing. On a scale of 1-10, I think I feel emotion at level 8. I often complain, I strongly dislike change and I react emotionally to many other things.

Which emotions do you tend to feel more strongly? Are you more susceptible to some emotions and less to others?

I think I react more to strong emotions (such as the emotions in the center of the two-dimensional circumplex Plutchik Wheel of Emotions), especially negative ones. For example, when we were shown different pictures with different purposes, the photos that had negative connotations stayed in my head for a longer period of time than the ones with positive connotations. As well as this, when looking at the photos, my negative emotions were stronger than my positive emotions. I think this may be because many of the negative photos showed unnecessary situations where people were harmed by others, which can be shocking as you would never consider harming a person in that way. Personally when looking at the negative images, I felt emotions that were within the two circles of the two-dimensional circumplex Plutchik Wheel of Emotions. This compares to the positive images, in which most of the emotions I felt were the outer circles of the two-dimensional circumplex Plutchik Wheel of Emotions. For example, if a friend was feeling ecstatic about something that had just happened to her, I would have a similar feeling and would feel this stronger than if she came to me and was happy about something that had just happened.

How emotional are your immediate family members compared to you?

I think everyone in my family is somewhat emotional, however I show it more. When I feel really happy, I have a big smile on my face. When my dad feels happy, he smiles with his eyes. I think if my parents feel a negative emotion about something, they don’t show it as much as I do. However, in some rare situations we all show a similar emotion. For example, this year my brother started college in Florida and it was hard to imagine what it was going to be like with him gone. In that situation, I think all of us showed the same emotion to a similar extent (except my brother because he was going to Florida, so he was pretty excited).

Has your experience of emotions changed over time?

When I was smaller, I think I had a stronger sense of happiness and trust than I do now. When growing up there was so much to be happy about and you weren’t completely aware and didn’t really worry about the world you were living in. In comparison, now I have so much more knowledge about the problems in the world and I have more things to worry about. This is revealed in a song titled Never Grow Up by country artist, Taylor Swift. I think this section of the song, truly reflects how emotions change over time. ‘To you, everything is funny/You got nothing to regret/I’d give all I have honey/If you could stay like that’. This quotation shows that as you grow up, your perception of the world changes, as you begin to regret and find fewer things funny.

4. What physical responses do you have to specific emotions? Give some examples.

I think face expressions are the easiest and most common physical way to identify emotions. When looking at the images in class, I had various physical emotions. The first imagine was disgusting. When I saw it, my face crinkled so that my eyes were smaller and I saw less. The second photo, however, was more appealing and my eyes opened wider to take in the photo, rather than shutting it out. If a person is shocked by something, they will often place one of their hands over their mouth. However, this is the action I often do when I try hard not to laugh in class.

5. Can you control your emotions, or do they control you?

I think it depends on how strong your emotions are and which emotions you feel. I think I have stronger control over certain emotions, such as anger and anticipation. If I’m angry, I don’t yell or throw things. However, I feel like I have less control over emotions such as joy and fear. When I’m happy, I can’t always contain it. When I fear something, it is usually a strong feeling and it causes me to be very aware of my surroundings. I think that fear is one of the things you can’t always control, because it’s your mental reaction to looking out for yourself and ensuring that you’re safe. I also feel remorse strongly. I think most people feel remorse strongly to help future situations. The deep feeling of guilt will help you learn to not make the same mistake that you did before.

6. Do negative or positive emotions affect your behavior more?

I think positive emotions cause me to talk more and talk about different things than I would if I had negative emotions. When I am sad or experiencing remorse, I speak less. When I am annoyed about something, I talk a lot and complain to make myself feel better about the situation. I also think negative emotions change my approach and attitude towards things, which makes it seem as though I am in a bad mood and I lose motivation.

7. Do you make decisions based on emotion or reason?

I always think about things before I do them and the effect my decisions have on other people. If I don’t want to homework, I do it anyway because I need to get it done. If I don’t feel like going to play practice, I go anyway with a positive attitude because it is a commitment of mine and our performance is in a few weeks. For the most part, if there are things that need to be done that I don’t want to do, I will do them.

On the other hand, if I feel tired and I should go to bed, I will stay up a other hour or so to watch a TV show. However, I don’t do this on weekdays, because then I will be too tired for school. (That is reason). Sometimes there is a mix of reason and emotion in my decisions. If there is something that you want to do that you probably shouldn’t do, your decision depends on how badly you want to do it. For example, if there were to be a concert on a school night in Tokyo, your decision to go to the concert would depend on how badly you wanted to go. If it were a Katy Perry concert, I wouldn’t go. If it were a Taylor Swift concert, I would go.

8. Do you feign/fake emotional response? Why? When? Is it OK to do this?

Sometimes if someone tells a really bad joke, I may laugh even if I don’t find it funny. I think this is okay, because the other person ends up feeling happy. Also if someone gives you a gift that you don’t necessary like, I think it’s okay to pretend to like the gift, because you should be polite. I usually fake my emotional response when someone asks me if I’m okay when I’m upset or angry. I will lie and force a smile and pretend that I feel fine. I think faking your emotion for little things; similar to white lies, is okay. However, I don’t think its okay to lie through your emotions.

This a photo I found online and it reminded me of the discussions we had in class on forced perspectives and optical illusions. Which scene do you notice first?

Forced perspective in photographs are displayed when an object is placed farther or closer to the camera, which makes objects appear to be smaller or larger, to create an optical illusion. When taking our photos, we discovered the difficulties regarding the surroundings and background. Taking the photograph in an open space (shown in the examples) create better photos, as there is no object to compare the actual size of someone to something, which would indicate how far something is from the object. However, two of our photos were taken in the hallway. The hallway reveals how far we are standing from each other, as the frames on the ceiling show the proportion of the hallway to us. In the photo below, Kat appears to be standing on Sophie’s hand. However, the door frame is behind her and is slightly larger than she is. This shows that Kat is standing further away, and is not the size of a fairy. Despite this fact, I think the placement of Kat on Sophie’s hand is well done.

The second photo taken in the hallway is below. This photo appears to be two feet (belonging to two different people: Kat and Sophie) about to step on me. The similar issue is evident, as the doorway suggests the actual size of myself. As well as this, the shadows of the feet on the floor somewhat shows that I am not actually under their feet.

Below is a successful example, from an online source, of what we attempted to do. You can see in the photo below that there is nothing but the foot and Stonehenge. Therefore, there is nothing to compare the dimensions to, to prove that Stonehenge is larger than a person’s foot.

Our third photo was taken on the High School roof. In this photo, Tessa appears to be touching a blimp. To create a better illusion, I think that we should have attempted to squash the blimp, or Tessa’s arm should be bent but straight up (90 degree angle), so it appears that the blimp is on her finger.

In class at the beginning of last week we discussed the definition of language and what it includes and excludes. My definition is: Communication through one’s voice, body movements or presented in a written form.

Some believe that language “may shape human thought.” The example they use to explain these theory is the Pirahã tribe. In their language, they only count until the number “two” and any number greater is referred to as “many”. It was seen that this tribe could not place the same number of items on the table exceeding four different items. As well as this, they cannot imitate more than 3 movements after seeing it. However, I don’t think that the lack of words for numbers limits their knowledge. Not having a word for something, doesn’t mean that they don’t understand a concept.

The journal reference with this example stated that this tribe doesn’t need to count to more than two in their daily lives. After considering how one would not need to count to a number greater than two in their life, I realized that they are not limiting their knowledge, but limiting their productivity.  If they were to all go fishing, they would catch enough fish so that everyone has one. The thought may occur to them of how many more fish they must catch until everyone has one. In this case it would be hard to communicate and figure out how much fish they need to catch. They may have thought of concepts that we use, such as addition, to make this easier, however they don’t have words for it. They could always create a new word for three or four. The fact that they don’t do this shows that they don’t think about their lifestyle that closely to add to their language to enhance communication.

This relates to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis that we read about in class. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis states that language affects the way people understand and view the world. The main aspect of the theorem is that language influences one’s thought and knowledge. The theorem indicates that people are unable to comprehend a concept, object or something else that they do not have a word for in their language. I disagree with this theorem.

It is possible for people to think or feel something, but not have words for them. For example, in Japanese there is no word for “privacy”, however that doesn’t mean that they don’t feel or understand the concept. In class we were discussing this on our table and Bella said that in Japanese there is no phrase for “I will miss you.” I found this interesting, as most people recognize this emotion. Just because there is no such phrase in Japanese, doesn’t mean that Japanese people don’t feel this way or that they know less. I feel that the limitations in language, such as words or phrases, only weakens the communication and understanding between people, but not their personal knowledge.

The knowledge issue that we presented directly connects to one of our IB classes: geography. Bella and I just started taking geography this year and Monica has taken geography since 9^th grade. So after learning amount migration in geography class, Bella wanted to do something related to this for our TOK presentation. Monica then showed us a newspaper article about the Japanese governments’ new policy to increase the population of foreigners in Japan from 2% to 10%. I found this interesting, as I have lived in Japan for most of my life and I know how some Japanese people act towards foreigners. In fact, just before we started to plan this presentation I had done a small presentation in Japanese class about Japanese attitudes towards foreigners living in Japan. I proposed that we could focus on the possible reactions of Japanese people and how they would feel towards this new policy. We then decided that our knowledge issue was going to be: To what extent would a theoretical global culture be beneficial to mankind?

As you can see, our presentation reflected on a real-life situation. We approached this in various ways by stating different perspectives and how different people perceive the situation. We came up with our knowledge issue by talking about our personal experiences of living in Japan and how it may be easier living in Japan if we were not considered as foreigners. This lead to us reflecting upon how a global culture could change in our lives living in Japan. This was obviously a controversial topic, and we thought that we could form a really good presentation.

We chose the “ways of knowing” and the “areas of knowledge” that we wished to emphasize in our presentation. These were ethics, history, language and emotion. I feel that the connections we made with these in our presentation were good, as it formed most of our arguments. We divided these and other elements of our presentation amongst ourselves to research individually. We then each wrote a short script with the information that we had gathered. I think that presenting the presentation with a script made us understand the topic to a greater extent than if we were to only present our researched section. I also think that it was more entertaining for the audience. We also had a short skit as the introduction, which I think encouraged the audience to think about what we were saying. This dramatic beginning emphasized what it means to have a culture and the conflicts that arise between cultures.

Once we put together our scripts and improved the transition between them, we decided to read through it. The problem with the original script was that it was over 5,000 words, and took 30 minutes to read through it all. We had to cut this down, which I think was the hardest part of the presentation process. We ended up cutting out a lot of details and personal experiences, which I slightly felt, weakened our presentation.  However, after reading it over I found that the things we cut out and reorganized provided our presentation with a better structure, still including a great amount of detail. Our final script had 3,007 words and was within the time limit.  

I feel that we used our power point effectively as we didn’t completely rely on it. The focus of our presentation wasn’t the power point and we had limited writing on each slide.  Our power point was used to provide a basis for our presentation, as it had images that supported what we were saying. As well as this, I feel that the two interviews we recorded enhanced the audience’s understanding of one of the many perspectives we presented.

I learned from our presentation and watching other groups present, that the ways of knowing are the fundamental details in a TOK presentation, as it provides the evidence and helps develop one’s arguments. I also learned that you must always mention where you get your data from when you present it. I did this when I stated that there are 6,909 different languages by saying “according to the Summer Institute of Linguistics…” However, we did not do this for every piece of data that we presented. Next time, I will ensure that I mention the source when speaking about data.

Today in TOK class, Paul McCarthy (a Professor of Comparative Culture: English and Japanese Language and Literature from Surugadai University) came to speak to us about various things, including language and how the languages that we speak and are familiar with, affect our knowledge.

He spoke of a quote and said, “those who know only their language don’t even know that intelligently.”  If you think about this quote, you can see that knowing multiple languages will give a person “insight” of the nature of their original language, by comparing it to others. By this a person gains knowledge of their own language, as well as others. It was also mentioned that language might be the “key” to a culture. This means that basically the culture of a country is linked to the language and if you understand what people say, you may learn more about their actions.

Paul McCarthy also mentioned that knowing multiple languages are important, as you make connections between the cultures and bring something new to the other. As well as this, if a person speaks two or more languages (fluently) and is familiar with the different cultures, their thought process would often be different to those who speak and know of only one culture. This is due to the influences that language and culture has on a persons’ opinion, which changes the way people perceive things in everyday life.

Language can change a person’s opinion about certain things, however by a certain age it is hard to change one’s cultural identity. This was discussed, as Paul McCarthy said that by the time he was eighteen, he felt like his cultural identity couldn’t be changed (couldn’t shift to Japanese). I think this is because in the first eighteen years of a persons’ life, they develop their identity and it isn’t possible for that to suddenly change.

I also found it interesting how he said that eventually most people would have to choose what nationality they declare themselves as. He expressed this with a quote, “no man can be loyal to two masters.” I think that this quote does make a point, however I don’t think that people have to chose what nationality they are and limit their cultural identity. A person’s cultural identity is made up by the different cultures a person practices and embraces as their own. This was also stated earlier when Paul McCarthy said that if people have two nationalities, they should say that they are “double… and double…” instead of saying that they are “half… and half…” This should be said as they have two different cultures and not two half cultures to make one. Possibly, in the eyes of the law, people would have to choose one nationality (for voting purposes etc.), however I don’t think they should otherwise.

The article I chose was based on the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy and how it recently has been repealed.

The link to the article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14981082

The article caused me to think about how certain laws effect the image that a person believes the world should be like. (E.g. Men marrying women, not openly having homosexuals in the army, etc.)

My knowledge question: “To what extent does the law and past influence a persons’ idealistic view of the world?”

1. How old are you? How might your age affect both what you know and your attitude toward gaining knowledge?

I am 16 years old. As I am still in school, I am still learning. This means that I haven’t learned everything that I need to know to receive my high school diploma and to pass my IB. This compares to the 2011 graduates, whom are 17 and 18 years old, as they have already gained this knowledge. As well as this, age can also determine how enthusiastic a person is about learning. A person enthusiastic about learning would be able  to absorb knowledge easily.
2. What is your mother tongue? What other languages do you speak? How might your particular languages affect your knowledge?

My mother tongue is English. I speak some Japanese and French. When you learn a language, you learn a lot about the culture of the country as well. As well as this, when reading texts or pieces of writing in another language in class, it will often be about something from the country. For example, in my last Japanese class, we were learning about ‘Honne and Tatemai’. This not only broadens our knowledge of the Japanese vocabulary, but we also learn about the culture.
3. What sex are you? Does your gender role affect how you see the world and what expectations you have about your knowledge and education?

I am female. I think my gender does affect how I see the world. Some people are sexist. This effects the way I view people who are sexist. I think gender can effect knowledge based on what they were interested in as children. Some children play with barbies, others play with dinosaurs, cars and some children color. This influences a person’s interest and what they would know more about. However, my expectations of education don’t change when I think of gender, because we are in a society where education is available to both males and females.
4. Are you urban or rural? How might living in a city or living in the countryside affect how you have learned and what you know?

I have always lived in an urban area. However, my cousins in Switzerland live in more of a rural area and I think growing up in the countryside may be better than growing up in the city. In the countryside,  children spend more time outside and use their imagination more than children in the city. Children in the countryside also experience more based on their surroundings. In the countryside things are more natural than the city.  Children can actually see what types of birds there are, instead of the crows in Yokohama. Growing up in the countryside may influence children to ask more questions about their environment and may learn more outside of school than in school. On the other hand, children who live in cities will most likely learn more in school, as most things that surround them are man-made.
5. What is your spiritual world view? How do you think that your following a particular religion, or not doing so, affects your knowledge?

My dad is religious, however I have never been pressured to become religious. I grew up believing what I wanted to believe and some of my beliefs have changed, as I have gained new knowledge to change them. I think that it is possible for a god-like figure to exist and I think this gives me more confidence in believing that what is meant to happen, happens. If something sad happens or if something isn’t going the way its supposed to, I think ‘oh, that was meant to happen and now I know that…’ If people don’t believe in a god or  a god-like figure, I think that people begin questioning their existence on Earth and more questions are raised than answered. I think that this is an unhealthy way to look at life.
6. What other aspects of your background belong here? The questions so far have just been guides, opening thoughts to which you can readily add.

I think a person’s experiences change the perspective of a person and their knowledge. As well as a person’s nationality and plans for the future (ideal job etc.).